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Research Reports |
| Title: | Central Plains Grain Farm Truck Fleet & Marketing Patterns |
| Authors: | Alan Dybing, Kimberly Vachal, and Baishali Rahman |
| Publication Date: | Apr 2023 |
| Report #: | DP-321 |
| TRID #: | 01887468 |
| Keywords: | commodity flow, farms, grain, market assessment, storage facilities, surveys, trucks, vehicle fleets |
| Type: | Research Report – Department Publications |
A survey of farm operators in the Central Plains Region, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, was conducted to gather information about transportation of crops, the inventory and characteristics of farmer-owned truck fleets, and on-farm storage capacity. The objective of the study is to provide information about the farm truck inventory and marketing patterns in the Central Plains. There is no other source for this information, and it should be unique and complementary to other farm-to-market information and national commodity flow publications. Farmers may use the results for their own investment and productivity assessments. Local and regional planners and policy makers can use the information to calibrate travel demand and freight flow models for investment and asset management choices and to estimate pavement impacts. Survey results indicate that the 5-axle semi is the most common truck configuration within the study area and that single-axle and tandem-axle truck ownership will decline in the future in favor of 5-axle and 7-axle configurations. On-farm storage is concentrated on larger farms in terms of average capacity, but the storage per bushel harvested is inversely related to farm size. The average distance to the first-choice delivery point was 14.92 miles.
Dybing, Alan, Kimberly Vachal, and Baishali Rahman. Central Plains Grain Farm Truck Fleet & Marketing Patterns, DP-321. North Dakota State University, Fargo: Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, 2023.
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